Accordion



March 20, 1951 NOBLE 2,546,076

ACCORDION Filed July 28, 1949 INI 'ENTOR.

307a iq l/obZe Patented Mar. 20, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ACCORDION Don E. Noble, Chicago, Ill.

Application July 28, 1949, Serial No. 107,343

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates in general to accordion and in particular to an accordion with an improved resonance chamber to improve the quality of low register notes.

The usual accordion is provided with a keyboard at the right hand and a series of buttons at the left, the former for playing the melody and the latter for playing an accompaniment comprising different chords associated with the melody as played by the right hand. In the keyboard portion of the accordion to which my invention relates, the practice is to provide a series of valves with a valve plate and valve holes therein, the latter controlled by clappers connected to the keys. The clappers are contained within a resonance chamber covered with a grill so constructed that both ends of the valve plate are the same and the portion between is substantially open except for the covering grill. I have found that, with this arrangement, there is a very distinct tendency for the notes of lower register to be blubbery as the expression is sometimes used or, in other words, to be lackin in the clarity of tone which is characteristic of the notes of upper register.

The principal object of my invention is the provision of an improved accordion in which the objectionable feature identified hereinabove is obviated.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an accordion made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of a grill and covering member removed from the resonance chamber;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the accordion of my invention has the usual keyboard I0, left hand section II, frame portions 12 and I3, and bellows l4. Disposed within the frame portion I2 is a valve plate 16 provided with valve holes I! and the usual reeds (not shown) are supported on the lower side of the valve plate, and the holes I! are adapted to be closed by clappers l8 carried by clapper bars IS. The clapper bars, in accordance with conventional construction, are adapted to be moved by individual white and black keys 2| and 22, respectively. The number of keys, of course, depends upon the particular accordion but, regardles of size, my invention is adapted for application thereto.

The portion of the accordion immediately above the valve plate "5 comprises a resonance chamber and such resonance chamber at the treble end is bounded by a recessed shoulder 23. At the front portion of the resonance chamber, a groove 24 is provided and the frame portion at the base end of the resonance chamber is so associated with the valve plate 6 as to form a groove 25. A cover and grill member 27 is shaped to extend over a ledge on the shoulder 23 and to extend down into the grooves 24 and 26. One or more screws 29 are all that are needed to hold this member in position, the screws, of course, extending into the frame portion I2.

The member 21 has a completely imperforate portion 28 extending over the end of the base portion of the valve plate and occupying approximately twenty-five per cent of the linear distance of this plate. I have found that if this inperforate portion extends over the lowermost portion of the valve plate and occupies from about one-fifth to about one-third of the linear dimension of the valve plate but otherwise extends completely across the valve plate, a very great improvement in the over-all tone of the accordion is obtained. With this construction, the mushiness or blubberiness of the lower notes is completely eliminated and the tone of the accordion as a whole is improved. It is, of course, understood that the musical notes issue through the holes I! and that, in general, the holes occupy the same relative positions on the valve plate l6 that are occupied by the keys controlling the same.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In an accordion having a valve plate provided with valve holes controlled by clappers in response to movement of keys on a keyboard, the combination of a cover and grill member overlying said valve plate and including a freely open gril portion disposed over the valve holes of the upper and intermediate register, and an imperforate cover portion disposed over the valve holes of the lower register and occupying between about one-fifth and one-third of the total area of the valve plate.

DON E. NOBLE.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Del Principe Feb. 6, 1940 Number 

